Outside the bubble that is Connecticut, in the part of the Big East basketball world that will have teams play in the postseason, what UConn and Kevin Ollie have done this year appears to be receiving little notice.

You can scour the Internet for hours and find little about the Huskies and their stunningly good season at least from media outlets outside the Nutmeg State — despite all the subplots that littered the season's start. Jim Calhoun retired, leaving the program in the hands of Ollie, who had all of two years' worth of assistant coaching experience. Two players left for the NBA, two more transferred because of the postseason ban, leaving the Huskies with two talented but small guards and a roster full of question marks beyond that.

UConn was not supposed to be a factor in the Big East. It was not supposed to approach 20 victories. It was not supposed to do a lot of things it has done.

This tremendous story is viewed as outstanding here, but worth a golf clap elsewhere, it seems.

Fifteen emails went out to Big East media members outside Connecticut on Monday. The question was simple: right now, who would be your choice for Big East Coach of the Year and Player of the Year? Thirteen replies came in. The results were a bit surprising.

(Worth noting that coaches vote for postseason awards, but media choices are often indicative of how things will go).

Georgetown sophomore forward Otto Porter was the unanimous choice as Player of the Year. Despite Shabazz Napier's eye-opening year, it's rather hard to argue against Porter. He's ninth in scoring, third in rebounding, seventh in field-goal percentage, sixth in steals and first in 3-point field goal percentage.

Oh, and his team, which visits Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday night, is in first place after being picked to finish fifth in the preseason. Porter is just another in a line of versatile Georgetown big men, following in the footsteps of Greg Monroe and Jeff Green.

Napier is certainly a contender for Player of the Year, but it will take a monumental effort in the last four games to dislodge Porter. One voter said he chose Porter "by the slimmest of hairs" over Napier. The UConn junior is in the discussion, he's just not a focal point. Porter's insanely good performance Saturday at the Carrier Dome all but wrapped things up for him.

That is not at all surprising.

What really threw me is that only one voter chose Ollie as Coach of the Year. UConn's first-year coach was mentioned as a possibility by two others but that's it. Georgetown coach John Thompson III was the heavy favorite, followed by Marquette's Buzz Williams.

Notre Dame's Mike Brey even got a mention because, as you know, it is impossible to discuss Coach of the Year without including Brey.

JT III is not a bad choice. He has a young team that relies on two sophomores (Porter and Greg Whittington), a junior (Markel Starks) and a freshman (D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera) and he has it in first place. Ollie has a young team that relies on two sophomores (Ryan Boatright and DeAndre Daniels), a junior (Napier) and a freshman (Omar Calhoun). The Hoyas have won nine in a row and are 21-4 while the Huskies have not and are not.

Pretty much a draw there, slight advantage JT III. Give Ollie the advantage in two areas: he replaced a legend, which is never easy, and right off the bat found success; and he has a team going nowhere playing for something. One more win and UConn will finish above .500 in the Big East for the first time since the 2008-09 Final Four team. Right this second, Ollie deserves to be Coach of the Year.

One could make a good argument between Thompson, Ollie and Williams. It is not nearly as clear a race as Player of the Year, and even that has some muddiness to it. There are still games to be played and still time to sort this all out.

When it is sorted, and the coaches tally their votes, they should be able to recognize what Ollie accomplished this year. If they don't, well, at least Ollie, with help from the Huskies, pushed himself into consideration when nobody thought it possible.

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